Star tours of Bentonville

Bentonville, Arkansas is quite the hub for famous people. Yes, I just typed that with a straight face. Drew Barrymore is totally moving here and we’ll probably be best friends because she’s quirky and I’m quirky and I can quote Ever After, I loved Boys on the Side, I think Reese’s Pieces are an underrated confection, plus I see hearts every where AND I love me some flowers…Wow, we’re practically the same person – Call me, Drew.

We get the occasional star due mostly completely to our proximity to Walmart’s corporate offices and by proximity, I mean it’s smack dab in the middle of town – who am I kidding, it is the town and the stars love the Walmart.

We have stars AND culture. This is an artsy penguin at Bentonville’s The Hive restaurant. Tom Cruise ate here. Not exactly here but in the restaurant. It’s not like Tom was pulling a Hasselhoff and chowing down on a cheeseburger at the feet of this poor penguin that he mistook for Suri – that would’ve been super creepy, Tom. Don’t do that.

Once, I was walking into the corporate offices and I bounced off of Shaquille O’Neal’s abdomen. I clearly wasn’t paying attention because he’s not a hard one to spot. I had no idea who he was. I had met one other person over 7-feet tall before, so, after I pulled my face out of his navel, I said, “You look so familiar. Have we met?” I didn’t want to be rude(r). He was all, “Your husband knows who I am.” Yeah, no he doesn’t. Then he said, “You probably just remember that I’m so handsome.” Nope, that’s not it. Then he started making jokes about how he played hockey. I had no idea why that would be funny – I’m not a big sports person. Finally, some lady came up and asked for his autograph and I asked her who he was. She said, “This is the great Shaquille O’Neal.” I looked at Shaq and said, “See, that wasn’t hard.” Now, I’ve met two people over 7-feet tall.

This other time, I almost ran over Josh Groban. No worries, he’s fine.

Mostly, the locals don’t get too crazy. I haven’t seen any weird crowds gathered to catch a peek at some random star about town or odd news stories about a potential star sighting…until tonight. Our local NEWS channel ran the following story – Live at 10.

Is Harrison Ford in Bentonville? Yes and we have a photo to prove it.

This is a picture of my TV showing the picture of “Harrison Ford” at a local watering hole.What, news man?

Ummm, really, news. This photo could just as easily be used to prove that Big Foot is still out there and possibly a heavy drinker. Our local radio guys, Tim and Jeff in the Morning on 105.7 (if you’re ever in the area, be sure to tune in) were the ones who gave this traction. They ran it on their blog but their picture wasn’t all stretched out and actually looked a bit like Harrison PLUS they had several Tweets confirming the sighting AND they’re not really THE 10 O’CLOCK NEWS.

Up until now, we’ve kept our town’s brushes with fame under the radar. Next, we’ll have red carpets and paparazzi – the town will be ruined. Move along, shutterbugs, there’s nothing to see here. That’s probably just a picture of Jimmy Buffet or something.

American German – language lesson #104

Ich sollte nicht in der Nähe von berühmten Leuten sein. (ick sole-ta nickt in dare neigh-er fon bare-room-ten loy-ten zine) I shouldn’t be allowed near famous people – I just realized that practically every story I have about meeting a famous person involves me being rude, an idiot, or almost killing them…I have more stories. They get worse.

I think I maybe saw the back of Cate Blanchett’s head once, but it might have been the back of another, much less famous head. She was in my city at the time, though.Cassandra recently posted…Fixing Up My Garden

I saw Charles Barkley in Cleveland once. And I got Tom Cruise’s autograph when they were filming Rain Man. They were filming across the street from where I worked.Michelle recently posted…When Good Eyes Go Bad

There are some celebrities who own homes in the Dayton, Ohio area {which is kind of where I live}, but I’ve never run into them, either physically or metaphorically speaking. — Just checked, and yeah, Martin Sheen lives here somewhere. How have I never seen him? Seems wrong.Andi-Roo (@theworld4realz) recently posted…Oscars Week #3

About Julie

I’m the chick. The handsome guy is my husband, Volker. I was raised in a tiny town exploring creek beds and fishing holes in Northeast Oklahoma. He was raised in a large metro area in Germany exploring museums and all of Europe. It’s almost the same. Ten years ago he loaded up the truck and moved to Bentonville; Arkansas, that is, swimming pools and Wal-Mart. Read More